About

Hello, I'm Tarlow. I've been building things since I was a kid - it started with modding consoles, then computers, then websites - and I haven't really stopped since.

My career started in internet marketing and web development, and I quickly fell in love with automation - taking a repetitive, annoying task and making it disappear. In 2014 that turned into BoosterBots, a software company where I built Windows automation tools for internet marketers, the Poshmark Booster among others, plus custom automation for businesses that needed things off-the-shelf tools couldn't do. I spent years designing, shipping, and supporting desktop software for paying customers, and it taught me more about building real products than anything I've done since.

After years of that, I stepped back. The tools worked - that wasn't the problem. The problem was I was building software that fought the platforms it ran on, and I didn't want to spend my life doing that. I wanted to make things that are legitimately useful and won't get shut down.

So I took a real break, not a vacation. I spent a lot of time outdoors, in nature, focused on things that had nothing to do with money - my mind, my body, reconnecting with everything around me. It was a revealing time, a vulnerable one, and honestly a scary one at times. But I found more of myself in that time, enough to grow, and I came back wanting to help other people grow too, and to work in a purer way.

What I came back with is Moss AI Studio - my one-man shop for local-first, privacy-respecting tools. Same builder, same love of automation, but now I build things I can stand behind: CopySprout, an AI writing tool for Etsy sellers, Handmade Checker, a Chrome extension that spots AI-generated listings, and IndieGameScout, an itch.io stats tracker. When I'm not working on my own products, I take on custom builds and automation projects through the studio - turning clunky processes into clean, working systems for people who'd rather not fight their own software. If you want the full story of how I got from there to here, I wrote it all out in The Story Behind Moss AI Studio.

When I'm not at a keyboard, I'm usually in PNW - camping, fishing, or running with my dog on the beach. I tinker with local AI models at home for fun, and I love learning. Most of what I learn ends up here on the blog.